ASTROTABLETALK

Monday, April 02, 2018

So the big astrological event for the UK in the next couple of years will be Saturn-Pluto in Capricorn opposite the UK Moon. This transit will also be part of the Brexit chart next year.

Economically, I think one meaning of this conjunction is the power (Pluto) of the big corporations (Saturn/Capricorn), and the struggle by national governments (Saturn/Capricorn) to contain these transnational beasts. Trump's taking aim at Amazon is a good example. The UK, now on its own, will be more vulnerable to these corporations: do what we say, or we'll take our business elsewhere. That may also mean we become a haven for them. But it may not be quite as simple as that.

Because politically, the UK is ornery right now. We were told to vote remain, and did the opposite. We were told to increase Theresa May's majority, and we did the opposite. And in both cases there was a desire for change. By the older generation and by the unemployed in the EU referendum. And by the young people who voted Corbyn in the recent general election.

Either way, we are pissed and we want something different. Add to that the Remainers who are pissed like nothing you have ever seen.....

I think that politically, leaving the EU is going to be comparable to the end of WWII, when a radical government was voted in. People will feel grateful to Theresa May for steering us through troubled water, her enactment of a decision she did not vote for. But she will be out on her ear at the next election.

Right now, we are in the stormy unclear waters that you get in the middle of a Pluto transit. But underneath that is a deep desire for change, coming from all sides, as yet inarticulate, but ready to burst forth as we leave the EU harbour. Under the last Saturn-Pluto conjunction in Capricorn, Martin Luther nailed his theses to the church door and began the Protestant Revolution. Saturn-Pluto is the destruction (Pluto) of the establishment (Saturn), as well as its empowerment.

So watch this space. I think soon after we formally leave the EU next year, Theresa May will find her position as leader untenable. It's going to be a hell of a general election, there is so much waiting to be unleashed from all sides. And least of all will we want to be bossed around by the likes of Amazon and Google and Facebook. We are so not in the mood. And it may set a precedent for other countries.

Friday, March 30, 2018

This is the chart for actual Brexit next year, alongside the UK 1801
chart. Can we be astrologers about this, and not let our love or hate
for Brexit interfere? For this reason it may be the most testing piece
of astrology we ever do. There is unlikely to be anything so divisive
again in our lifetimes. Will you be able to look your grandchildren in
the eye and say, "I didn't let Brexit stop me reading the stars, because
the stars are even more important than Brexit?"

CLICK TO ENLARGE

There will
be a lot of Mars around: Mars conjunct the Desc in the Brexit chart;
and Brexit Sun in Aries conjunct the UK Desc. And we will have recently
emerged from a Mars Return, Mars being the ruler of the UK Desc. This
gives a threefold message of a strong new start in foreign
relationships, which if we are doing this thing, is what is needed. .
Then look at the natal UK Moon, the people, at 19 Cancer: conjoining it
will be the North Node, opposite will be the Moon, Saturn and Pluto.
This a historic turning point. The UK will be starting to emerge from
the dark tunnel she is currently in, as Pluto opposes her Moon, in which
we no longer know who we are. Hence the minority government.

But
with Neptune opposite the MC of the Brexit chart, the theme of an
uncertain direction may continue for some time, even though a new sense
of national identity will be beginning to emerge. Moon-Saturn-Pluto are
in the 2nd House of the Brexit chart, suggesting our sense of who we are
becoming will have an economic base to it.

Scorpio Rising, along
with Brexit Moon conjunct Brexit Pluto, and UK Moon opp Brexit Pluto
give a threefold message of power. A claiming of a new power to live,
which will be necessary.

The UK Progressed chart will be a few
months shy of a Progressed Lunar Return, which stacks up the message of a
new start for the people. And about a year shy of Prog Sun in Leo
conjunct Prog Jupiter in Leo. Now there is a feelgood factor, a sense of
self-expansion. Or maybe it's grandiosity? Take your pick.

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

There is a worldwide shift towards authoritarian government: Putin has been at it for some time, and now Xi Jinping in China is making himself leader for life, his opponents having been silenced on corruption charges. Trump, of course, is an authoritarian personality, offering simple solutions to complex problems. There is Erdogan in Turkey, and the rise of the far-right in Germany. This is the outcome of the Uranus-Pluto square. There was the same political shift in the 30s, after the last Uranus-Pluto square. These 2 planets shake everything up, they bring in a new paradigm, and it leaves people deeply uncertain. And that leaves room for leaders who offer to supply the missing certainty.

And what about the anomalous, Uranian UK? We seem to have moved in the opposite direction, from a majority party ruling the country up to 2010 when the square began, to an era of coalitions or wafer-thin majorities. We don't know who we are any more, we are living in a sea of uncertainty as opposing sides in both politics and in the population battle it out over Brexit. We still don't know what's coming next. I think the seeds of the new will become clearer in the autumn, as Pluto moves forward to make his final opposition to the UK Moon, having hard aspected the Angles, Sun and Nodal axis also in recent years. Those seeds will find expression over the following few years as Saturn conjoins Pluto. What a work-out. For now, we just have to accept Pluto's Underworld. More than that, embrace it. Pluto won't let you resign yourself to him.

I run into trouble over Brexit. And I think part of the problem is that I approach it psychologically rather than politically. It fascinates me that the UK chart has Sun/IC in Capricorn, and Moon/MC in Cancer. That is a huge emphasis along an axis, and to me it describes 2 personality types within the country, one of whom voted leave and the other who voted remain. It's simplistic, probably, but still very interesting to me. I voted leave, in a moderate kind of way, but I can see good reasons for voting either way, and the astrology seems to confirm that.

A friend who voted Remain pointed out that the prospect of leaving has brought up a lot of fear for people, because we don't know where we are headed. Of course, he is right, and one moment's consideration of Pluto opposing the UK Cancer Moon would have told me that. Cancer loves the European tribe to which we increasingly belonged, and I think it is grief as well as fear that they are experiencing. And being a water sign, that is why leaving is such an emotive issue.

I think the Capricorn Leavers need to recognise the depth of emotion that has been stirred up in the Remainers, and not expect them to just 'get over it'. It sets the lie to the stereotype of the cold Englishman, and is something Capricorns can learn from. At the same time, I think Remainers need to stay close to what they are feeling, instead of projecting it onto Leavers and caricaturing them as Little Englanders, racists, ignorant etc. It is very unpleasant to be on the receiving end of that kind of name-calling.

The Caricature

It's fascinating what Pluto brings up. The national psyche is on display. We are all engaged on an individual level, as never before, with what is happening in the collective, and will probably never see again in our lifetimes. And, here is a crucial point, Brexit is not about right and wrong. Pluto does not think like that: his concern is the necessity of change. As long as we think one side is right and the other wrong, we cannot understand the astrology, and we cannot understand what is happening.

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

I don't know
where to begin with this one. Astrology
News Service, which claims to be sponsored by august bodies such as the
American Federation of Astrologers and the National Council for Geocosmic
Research, is rejoicing that more Americans think astrology is scientific than
did a few years ago. It reminds me of the time the Sun newspaper took a poll of
its readers as to whether Princess Diana had been murdered, as if those readers
were qualified to make a judgement.

It's not
just that. Anyone whose studies astrology quickly comes to see, in my opinion
at least, that astrology is NOT a science, not in the modern, narrow meaning of
the word. Nor are poetry and music and psychotherapy and a lot of other things.

That's why I
said I don't know where to begin unpicking this one. Astrology sometimes needs
saving from its friends rather than its enemies! Though personally I think
those enemies can be a good thing, they keep us on our toes.

It would be
interesting to find out what people mean when they say they think astrology is
‘scientific’. What they really mean, I suspect, is that they think astrology
works, but science has such epistemological authority for them that saying
astrology is ‘scientific’ amounts to the same thing. 1000 years ago they might
have said they thought there was room for astrology in the teachings of the
Church, and I can’t see there’s much difference in the two statements.

I think what
overlap there is between astrology and science is incidental, because their
ways of thinking are inconjunct. Science is based on cause and effect and
repeatability, along with an explanatory mechanism (except for the privileged
disciplines of Evolution and Psychiatry). Astrology is based on sychronicity,
"the experience of two or more events as meaningfully related"
(Wiki). In this case, earthly events and heavenly events.

Astrology is
not based on cause and effect, you could call it 'mythological thinking', it is
how early people thought. They would, for example, see some unusual behaviour
in nature and reflect that it must therefore have a meaning for them. (Source:
Chippewa Cree friend). I think that the
reclaiming of this way of thinking is potentially astrology's most important
contribution to the world. Astrology in itself is a rather specialised and improbable subject that I don't think will ever be mainstream. But I love it :)

Like
Bremainers and Brexiteers in the UK, and Democrats and Republicans in
the US, astrology and science need to learn to live with each
other. I don’t think, however, that it is an equal relationship: astrologers can understand how science sees
the world, but science finds it much harder to understand astrologers. We
need to be patient, even indulgent. After all, we see reality through all 4
elements, whereas science concentrates on Air and Earth as means of knowledge,
it is limited. Its basic method tends to disregard Fire and Water as means of
knowing and valuing. The proper place for science is that of a speciality
within a more all-encompassing culture that includes astrology. Causal thinking
needs to take its place within the broader context of mythological thinking. (First published 2014)

Wednesday, February 07, 2018

Bilbo and Frodo Baggins share a birthday: 22nd September. This much
is clear from ‘A Long Expected Party’, the 1st Chapter of ‘The Lord of
the Rings’. That is all the birth data we have.The
Lord of the Rings is not set within our historical time period. It is in
a sense outside of time. Middle Earth itself, while described in great
detail, is imaginary, even though we kind of feel we know it. (This is
because Tolkien’s creation is rooted in a lifetime of study of European
myth.)Google Middle EarthAt
the same time, Middle Earth is described through reference to our
world. I therefore feel free to take the position of the Sun on 22nd
Sept as an astrological pointer to the characters of both Bilbo and
Frodo.

Between 1931 and 1972, which more than covers
the time of the writing of The Lord of the Rings, the Sun on 22nd Sept
was always at 29 point something Virgo. Since then, due to precession,
it has started to appear in Libra. And before 1931 you could find it at
28 point something Virgo. So Bilbo and Frodo have their Suns at 29
Virgo.Now
Virgo isn’t a general description of the character of hobbits, but
rather these 2 particular hobbits. For the general nature of hobbits,
I’d probably say Capricorn (respectable and cautious), Taurus (they like
their food – remember second breakfast!) and Virgo (clever with their
fingers and unobtrusive). Very earthy creatures!Bilbo
and Frodo, due to their Took ancestry, had something else going on. It
was rumoured that there was fairy-blood in the Took line, and
occasionally a Took would take off and have an adventure, though this
was always hushed up by the family.But adventures are
not what you think of when you think ‘Virgo’. Being Virgo does help,
however, if you are a burglar like Bilbo: unobtrusive and observant. And
if you are on an adventure, Virgos are likely to do so in the service
of something, rather than just self-gratification, which was certainly
the case with Bilbo and Frodo, who both found themselves heading off
into the unknown rather reluctantly. As for the invisibility which the
ring bestowed, here we see the 2 hobbits encountering the opposite sign
of Pisces.Using the Sabian Symbols for Virgo 30 we
read: Having an Urgent Task to Complete, a Man doesn’t Look to any
Distractions. Well that just about sums up the quests that these 2
hobbits were on.There
is, however, another astrological pointer we can look to: Bilbo was
about 50 when he set off, and Frodo was 51. In both cases we have the
Chiron Return. Dennis Elwell
has this to say about Chiron: “On the subject of Chiron, it is as
significant as any planet, but I do not go along with the 'woundedness'
interpretation… when you are dealing with Chiron in practical work it is
better to remember that his mythological namesake conducted a school
for heroes…. As old Chiron trains us up towards accomplishments we never
thought we could achieve, we need to be able to take the dare, to have
an irreverent disrespect for the wise ones who say this or that can't be
done. Chiron's style borders on cocky impudence, but perhaps its basic
function is to persuade us that nothing is impossible.”So
there it is. The Chiron Return is a time for achieving what we thought
impossible, which is exactly what Bilbo and Frodo did at that age.In
the 2 of Wands of the Mythic Tarot deck, we see Jason stepping out on
his quest, with his teacher Chiron behind him in a cave. Jason’s quest
is to recover the Golden Fleece, which is being guarded by a Dragon.
Bilbo’s quest is to recover gold from a Dragon, and he did this on his
Chiron Return. I said that Tolkien knew his mythology!Chiron
takes us to the point where we are on our own, where, if you like, we
need to discover our own inner teacher. We tend to associate heroic
quests with youth; but the real quest is to find the deeper independence
of spirit, the gold in our souls, that usually requires age and years
of testing. It is in the nature of human consciousness to be collective,
to gain its security (unconsciously) from thinking the same as others.
Chiron takes us out of that, and this is why there is often an
‘outsider’ quality to those with a marked Chiron. This ‘outsider’
quality, which is also their ‘wound’, forces the issue, as psychological
security cannot be found in acceptance from the collective.Frodo
and Bilbo were never the same again after their adventures. Bilbo
returned to Hobbiton, but he never fully belonged. He was viewed with
suspicion by the more conventional hobbits, even though they appreciated
his money. Frodo was so stricken, so marked by his ordeal that he never
returned, but went on to the next stage across the ocean with the
elves.

Friday, February 02, 2018

I think the idea of 'traditional
shamanism' can be like the bogeyman in the corner. How can what we do
ever be 'traditional'? It can certainly never be traditional in terms of
the forms, and God help us if it is. Imagine doing a sweatlodge, for
example, exactly like the Lakotas might do one. What would it mean to
anyone attending? It would be like something out of Gormenghast.

I think what we CAN do is to imbibe the spirit of the indigenous way of
feeling and understanding the world. And that takes time, and we need
to be adequate to it. We need self-knowledge, we need a flexibility of
mind that our culture often doesn't teach us. We need to drop any
fantasies that Hollywood or the New Age may have sent our way. We need
to read their stories and teachings directly. Books like 'Black Elk
Speaks'. Most of us won't encounter teachers very much. I was fortunate
enough to, a Canadian guy used to come and stay with me on and off. That
didn't happen by accident, and I know I need to run with what I learnt.
And even that was limited. But no doubt exactly what I needed. I'm
still pondering it; the real path is a slow one.

Nowadays I find the books so good, they are my teachers. They take time
and study and sipping. Read them like poetry. Not the interpreters like
Storm and Swiftdeer. Of course they had some good things to say. What I
do trust are the writings of those who are recognised by the indigenous
peoples themselves. My personal interest is North American. I don't
know why, it is just is.

And to return to the start, I can feel
the fact that I don't know the forms very well - and never will, I'm not
like that - to be the Spectre at the Feast. But I think it may also be
my strength. I know damn well from my early years with Buddhism that the
forms are secondary, that they can be a disempowerment. Particularly,
maybe, when they come from a different culture to our own. I had that
burnt into me over 18 years.

What matters is that I know how to
change myself - to some degree how to do the Red Road, which is my bit;
and how to be receptive to the Blue Road, which is Spirit. I've got some
idea how to move towards a deeper balance within myself - which is the
point of this whole thing. That is all that matters. That is the point
of 'tradition', and if you can do that, then you are traditional.

The forms I use, well who cares as long as they work. 'If it's real, it
works; if it works, it's real' (Jim Tree: The Way of the Sacred Pipe.)
But of course, they won't work without respect and understanding. And
let's not forget The Circle of Life by James David Audlin.
That is the book, more than any I have known, that I learn from, and
that also reminds me that I do have some affinity for, and understanding
of, this stuff.

Thursday, January 25, 2018

Gemini more
than any other sign is the trickster archetype. In public life they do and say things
that upset the status quo. They keep us entertained. They appal us, we wouldn’t
trust them as far as we could throw them. And sometimes it can seem like Fate is
intervening, as though Geminis are a vehicle for bizarre, rule-breaking events.

With Sun
conjunct Uranus (another trickster, as is Eris) and North Node in Gemini, it is
Donald Trump’s destiny to upset the status quo. American politics will never be
the same again.

DONALD TRUMP

As a human being, I hold him in low regard. Politicians are
usually in it for a reason, they are trying to do something that they see is
useful, and I think it is important to try to discern this, rather than just
seeing everything as acting in bad faith, which I think is a cop-out that a lot
of otherwise intelligent people engage in. But Trump…. I do find it hard to see,
because everything he does is so entwined with his delusory self-regard. It is
as though the Fates said this system needs shaking up, and we’ll use this guy,
this is what he’s good for.

In the UK we
have Boris Johnson, another Gemini. His behaviour over the EU referendum was
classic Gemini. He couldn’t make up his mind until the last minute whether to back
the Leave or Remain campaign. In the end he led the Leave campaign, in opposition
to the Prime Minister. He told a whopper about using the money we’d save to
fund the NHS. Like a good Gemini, he is now well-known for this piece of
exaggeration. How much of all this is just manoeuvring for power on Johnson’s
part, and how much what he genuinely thinks, is hard to say. Maybe we shall
never know, maybe he doesn’t know himself.

But manoeuvring
for power is what he does. He has Moon in Scorpio. The Moon is often hidden,
and Scorpio of course can love to manoeuvre for power.

BORIS JOHNSON

BUT Boris
Johnson has Sun in Gemini conjunct North Node and MC in Cancer. So maybe he
really does want to improve the NHS. The other day he spoke out of turn, asking
for more money for the Health Service. He is starting to have a history with
the NHS.

At any rate,
the EU referendum has shaken up the UK, there is no doubt about that, and
Gemini Boris played a part in that. As did Sun-Mercury-Venus in Gemini Jeremy
Corbyn, the Labour leader, who was a lukewarm Remainer, which isn’t how leaders
are supposed to act: they are supposed to take one side and back it.

Something
else Boris does is put his foot in it by speaking the truth. Which, as the
country’s head diplomat, is an interesting quality. About a year ago, he said
that Saudi Arabia was involved in proxy wars in the region. Everyone knows
this, but no-one will say it. Furthermore, the UK was in the process of
concluding a major arms deal with Saudi Arabia. So it really was NOT the thing
to say. Maybe because it was Boris and he is, in a way, not taken seriously, it
was smoothed over and the deal proceeded. But credit to Boris, IMO.

And then
there is the British woman who has been imprisoned in Iran on charges of political
subversion. She is a mother with young children back in the UK, and claims she
was just in holiday. Step in Boris to help: he says that she was merely in Iran
to ‘train journalists’. Of course, this set her case back, for it was used by
the authorities as a means of confirming their suspicions. And Boris was widely
condemned. What no-one is saying is that she probably WAS in the country for
that reason, and Boris said it. Stupidly, and I won’t give him credit for that.

Uranus is
starting to oppose Boris’ Moon at 0.35 Scorpio. And his Moon rules both his MC
and his North Node. So I think we can expect to see continuing twists and turns
in the Boris story this year, and I think they will include that manoeuvring
for power that seems so obvious in him. And which he can get away with because
Theresa May’s position is so weak.

I was
prompted to write this piece because of a news item this morning: “Boris
Johnson 'is descendant' of mummified Basel woman”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-42805485

A mummified woman was found 10
years ago in Basel, and she turns out to be Boris’
great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother. It doesn’t get more
bizarre than this. It could only happen to Boris. And it is something to do
with being Gemini that attracts this sort of event to him.

His ancestor died of mercury poisoning, given as a treatment for syphilis. She got syphilis because she looked after people with syphilis. Yeah, right. If Boris is anything to go by, her husband was a philanderer, and that's why she got syphilis.

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Barry Goddard

Astrology has its roots in ancient augury, in reading the intentions of the gods. It contains truth, but not in a literal, scientific way. It is a way of thinking, natural to human beings, that has been largely forgotten today. An astrology chart cannot be ‘read’ like any other text: rather, the astrologer uses the stars and planets in a ritual way that allows his or her intuition - the daemon, the gods, the unconscious - to speak. And the emphasis is not on foretelling the future but on how to live well, what attitude to take to life, how in other words to live in accord with the intentions of the gods. I mainly do readings by skype. If you’re interested, email me at bwgoddard1@aol.co.uk. I was born 12 Feb 1958, 18.50, London